Schwalbe

fake dive, diving, simulation Click to listen Schwalbe
[noun]
[de schwal-be, de schwal-bes] 

"Schwalbe" is one of those few German words that are used in the Dutch language. A "schwalbe" is the act, performed by a soccer player, of deliberately taking a dive with the objective of obtaining a free kick or penalty. We do have also a Dutch equivalent – "fopduik" (lit.: fake dive) – but "schwalbe" is far more popular…

Difference with the German Schwalbe is that it's not written with a capital (like all German nouns), except when it's the first word of the sentence, and that its plural form is "schwalbes", and not "Schwalben", like in German.

Examples:
– "Dat was echt een schwalbe!" – "Valt mee dat de scheids het gezien heeft…" 
("That was really a fake dive!" – "Luckily the ref's seen it…")

– "Dat was geen schwalbe!" – "Wedden van wel?!" 
("That wasn't a fake dive!" – "You wanna bet?!")

Related words:
– Aanstellen: 1. to appoint [verb] [aanstellen, stelde aan, h. aangesteld]. 2. to put up a drama act, to put on an air [verb] [aanstellen, stelde aan, h. aangesteld].
– Aansteller: drama queen [noun] [de aansteller, de aanstellers].
– Overtreding: foul [noun] [de overtreding, de overtredingen].

Example:
– "Wat een verschrikkelijke overtreding! Dat moet een rode kaart zijn."
("What a terrible foul! That has to be a red card.")

Extra:
For an overview of German words used in the Dutch language, check out Wikipedia.

5 thoughts on “Schwalbe

  1. Thank you for the word “schwalbe”. I checked half a dozen other sites before coming here, but couldn’t find it. Especially at that useless http://www.vandale.nl (what’s up with that, anyway?).Your site has now officially become my #1 go-to site for Dutch definitions. Thanks!

  2. @Leo – the good thing is that Van Dale is still the authoritave resource for us, so in any case you are covered 😉
    The Van Dale web site is quite terrible, however I did find ‘schwalbe’ there. Their on-line dictionary search box does not always appear upon the first load of the page. When you reload, it does show up. And yes, what’s up with that?!
    Sander

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